All posts tagged Sale on tactical pants

3 suggestions for the 7 day CCW holder

If you are a 24/7 concealed carry holder you probable already know most of this, but there are always new carriers that can use the advice and avoid discomfort and irritation.  I like many before me stared out carrying a 1911 45acp and felt well armed, but after several years of either bruising myself or having a holster fail, it was time to move to something smaller.   The 1911 is actually a very good gun for CCW because it is very thin and not really as heavy as some of the other 45acp guns.   The Springfield XD is probable the second most popular firearm but that thing is a tank when loaded to capacity.

I have many friends that have carried the 1911 in the small of their back, but to me this is something that can cause grave injury.   The whole tactical pants market is absolutely flooded to capacity, but there is no reason that with an elastic waistband, you should be able to carry a gun at 3 or 9 o’clock.   If you can carry a gun on a paddle holster you can usually get away with carrying a larger firearm, IWB is for thinner guns depending on your body type but that usually means a single stack firearm.  And then there is always pocket carry and  thing is by far the most comfortable way of carrying.

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Carrying rifle magazines off a tac vest

A well designed tactical vest is almost always the best place to to carry your gear, but the gear should drive the mission.   The reason Molle vests are so popular is simple putting it, you don’t always need the same gear to get the job done so why expect the vest to already be designed for everything.  Sometimes to many attachments is the real piss off and you want simplicity.   There are still times when all a guy needs is a vest for flash bangs or grenades.   Those can be important roles for achieving a mission accomplished.

The tactical clothing market is easy 1000 times bigger than it was 6yrs ago and quality and cost are one thing, but the other is about usefulness.  One tactical pant that catches the eye are the Woolrich elite tactical pants in Style 44447.  These pants were designed after the ACU style pants are are probable the most popular carbine operator pant.   There pants are lightweight cotton ripstop and can hold up to 6- 30rd pmags in or any AR15 30rd magazine for that matter.   If you aren’t in a situation where a tactical vest is appropriate, the Woolrich Elite pants make getting gear easy in the prone positions.

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Sometimes you just have to wear different pants

Sometimes when we have to take over the work around the house that we are not use to doing, we have to put a different pair of pants.   When you have to do gardening you need to think about being in the kneeling position and sometimes throwing down a mat or old rug will help you get the job done without hurting your knees.   Some of the tactical clothing we sell actually ends up in the ER because the doctors that are wearing them like the fact the large pockets can be used for tools without having to worry about stuff showing or falling out.   There are some situations where we are putting a holster in a different position and the gear just doesn’t feel right.

One situation recently made me realize I was wearing the wrong pants for the situation was with the Tru-Spec 24/7 ligthweight pants.  These  tactical pants have a great fit for my body size, but the pocket locations for a knife or flashlight just didn’t feel right with the Blackhawk Holster.  When i had to reach for my knife I had trouble getting to it because the hold 3 o’clock holster and knife location didn’t work out so well.   If I was carrying IWB with my Sig 220 I wouldn’t have had  this problem, but it was another gear and accessory issue.

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More and more options for tactical clothing, but does the quality suck?

I answered an email from a customer that ordered several styles of shirts from us but they complained that they ordered all of the same sizes, but the fit was not the same.   We’ve been in the clothing business for long enough to know that sometimes styles and sizes get mislabeled and your wifes home cooking skills did not advance you to the larger sizes. All clothing manufacturers claim to be durable and consistent but the truth is that this is not a reality.   The same company may have variations in sizes and might even change the quality of the fabric just to save a few bucks.   Some clothing makers even out source stuff which compounds the quality control issues.

Making good clothing is a talent and you can have the best designs in a tactical pant but then wreck it with poor quality and poor consistency.  I’ve heard rock albums get ruined by bad mixing or poor recording.   Look at the And Justice for All album from Metallica and how many bass players are still pissed off at the bad mixing that went on.  The point is that great talent still gets wasted on tactical pants and tactical shirts.   There are some really nice CCW shirts from Blackhawk and 5.11 but sometimes when you hold them in your hands they don’t feel as good as they look.

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We want to hear from you

There are few tactical clothing companies that have really gained some traction in the tactical community and others have fallen off the face of the Earth.  Some were due to poor quality, bad designs or the economic problems of making clothing in foreign Countries were cotton prices have sky rocketed and that’s going to put a shot to the market.   Some companies seem to be more secure than others but we recently heard that some clothing manufacturers have raised prices almost $20 for a pair of pants.   Meanwhile, you can still get some 5.11 tactical pants for under $30.   I’m still amazed at the people that won’t pay more money for something that will hold up better thus making your money stretch out.

We were in this debate years ago when the tactical market exploded and competition was everywhere.  Since there have been cutbacks in military deployment and many of the private security contractors have left Iraq we have noticed a bit of a slow down, but it’s still up from a decade ago.   Woolrich Elite tactical pants are a few bucks more than some of the competitors but to this day it’s still one of the least complained about products we’ve sold.  Every once in awhile there are complaints about buttons falling off or tearing, but that’s all.   All clothing will shrink even if washed properly, we want to hear from you about what  you want us to stock and what you think about the situation in the tactical clothing industry.

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Changes in weather changes in clothing

In 2012 you can be sure there will be some pretty big changes in the tactical clothing market.   I expect there will be a few people fall to the way side because there are still production issues with making clothing in China and the economy isn’t getting any better.   Lots of police and government workers are losing their jobs and that will eventually affect the people that supply them.   Locally there were huge layoffs in the Trenton and Camden area and for the first time we saw unemployed cops.

Now that things are really getting tight, if you are looking for some really good deals please take a look at some of the great deals we have on clothing.   There are some really good Tru-Spec, Woolrich Elite and Eotac tactical pants on clearance and on sale.  We have a significant amount of the Eotac style 202 OD greens left.   For $34.99 you are saving on money and getting a better quality product.

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All those tactical pants and what to choose from?

We recently got in another shipment of Blackhawk Warrior Wear and some of the Tru-Spec 24/7 in limited quantities.  Like many companies out there we have been trying to monitor what is going on with the clothing manufacturers because there are plenty of credible rumors going around about people leaving China and looking elsewhere.  Much of the 5.11 tactical products are geared to Law Enforcement and EMS, and they do a great job of keeping that market, but there is plenty of room for competition for comfort and quality control.   We’ve done a few movement tests with the tactical clothing that we got in and Tru-Spec was the hands down winner.

The 24/7 line from Tru-Spec would not pass as concealed carry pants  in my opinion because real concealed carry means not looking like you are packing a gun.  Most of the 5.11 tactical, Blackhawk tactical pants and even Woolrich Elite and the defunct Eotac line look very similiar from a few feet away.   The big difference is the fit in my opinion.   Guys with different body sizes mostly guys that are body builders.   Sometimes people forget this and that is why there are so many tactical clothing companies because none of them can accommodate everyone.

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Fall is around the corner, don’t get caught in the cold

This is one of those times of year that you have no idea if you should be taking the air conditioners out of the window or leaving them in.   Usually you decide to pull them out if after you wake up in the morning and it’s 45 F in your bedroom because the temperature dropped in the middle of the night.   There are also seasonal changes at this time of the year in the Northeast where you walk out the door and freeze until your car warms up and then by late morning you are sweating and have to take off your jacket or a sweatshirt that you thought you had to wear all day.   One way to avoid the shocks in the season changes is to stick with lightweight pants until it get’s really cold.

The best deal we have running on tactical clothing right now are the now obsolete Eotac tactical pants.   They are going for $29.99 for all sizes and colors and these are the lightest weight tactical pants that you can find.   Some people don’t like the fact that they can wrinkle but if you hang them up after washing them, they really aren’t a problem keeping wrinkle free.   100% cotton ripstop material is something invented during WWII for our soldiers serving in the Pacific where bugs and heat exaustion were a problem.   Going from wearing tactical shorts in the summer to where heavy weight pants in the fall and then sweating your you know whats off isn’t fun and the lightweight tactical pants are the way to go.

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The overwelmed tactical clothing market?

I’m really not so sure about that if you are talking about the quality of the products.   I use to hear good things about Vertx pants but recently heard an awful lot of flak about the pants being too tight.   Sizing variations between brands is a given and although customers are constantly asking us “if I wear a 38/32 in 5.11 pants what size am I in Woolrich Elite?” and we always tell them we can’t tell you that, and it’s the truth.   One of the problems that all of the smaller clothing companies have had in getting their foot in the door and competing with 5.11 has been all about production.   If you’re department needs clothing in a certain color and you have to wait 6 months to get it, you aren’t going to wait.

One thing our customers have asked us to do is to stock the clothing that they love, that’s a really hard thing to do since so many people are really  happy with their 5.11 tactical pants or their Woolrich Elite pants.   One thing that has hit many manufacturers is the pricing.   Many people have a hard time spending $50 or more for a pair of pants and will gladly wear 5.11 pants if they can get them for $30 or less.   Sometimes its about price margins and not how good you look in them.    When you’re sitting in an office it’s hard to think you need to worry about movement and jumping over fences with them.

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